What to Watch This Week: Relax With Our Top 9 TV and Movie Picks (December 16–22)

New on TV this week

This week’s What To Watch picks include two series premieres (Laid, Beast Games), holiday specials (The Simpsons, Barry Manilow, Saturday Night Live), the NBA Cup Championship, and stand-up comedy specials from Ronny Chieng and Ilana Glazer. Let’s hit the couch!

Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It | Netflix | Stand-up comedy

Special, Tuesday, December 17: The Daily Show senior correspondent and sometimes host gets personal in his second Netflix comedy special. In a bit about in-vitro fertilization (IVF), Chieng laments trying to do his part of the procedure in a hospital—and on demand. “I’m sorry for not being a sex offender where I can just j**k off as people are dying above me and below me!” Filmed over five nights in Honolulu, the special also contains jokes about politics (natch, given his Daily Show gig), older generations, and being a man on the internet.

The Simpsons: O C’mon All Ye Faithful | Disney+ | Animation, holiday

Special, Tuesday, December 17: In this very special double-episode (exclusive to Disney+), mentalist Derren Brown hypnotizes Homer, who then believes himself to be Santa Claus, setting off “a cheery chain-reaction and causes everyone to question what they believe and to explore the meaning of ‘miracle.’” The episode also features music from Patti LaBelle and Pentatonix, and it airs on the 35th anniversary of the first The Simpsons holiday special (a blast from Christmas past).

NBA Cup Championship | ABC | Live basketball

Special, Tuesday, December 17, 8:30 p.m. ET: The 2024 NBA Cup tournament culminates tonight with this championship game, but who will face off? As of writing, the NBA Cup Semifinals haven’t happened, so four teams remain in the running. So tonight’s game will feature the winners of the Hawks vs. Bucks and Rockets vs. Thunder games happening on Saturday, December 14. For more information, check out our guide, “How to Watch the NBA Cup.”

A Saturday Night Live Christmas | NBC | Comedy

Special, Wednesday, December 18, 9 p.m. ET: Like last month’s A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving, this Christmas special features memorable and viral sketches from SNL’s 50 seasons. NBC keeps the sketches to itself until air time, so we’ll have to be surprised. But we’re really hoping for an appearance from Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle (see clip) or Sump’n Claus, and maybe we’ll get to hear that warm, fuzzy Christmas chestnut, “D*** in a Box.” If you can’t watch tonight, an encore presentation airs on Monday, December 23, at 8 p.m. ET.

Laid | Peacock | Rom-sitcom

Series premiere, Thursday, December 19: Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23) are calling their new series “a f**cked-up rom-com.” How f**ked-up is it? Our heroine, Ruby (Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once), learns that her former hookups and boyfriends have been dying under mysterious circumstances. That is pretty messed up—almost like some It Follows stuff. We can see the humor in it, though, especially when “Whatever happened to that one guy you slept with?” has the same disturbing answer.

Barry Manilow’s A Very Barry Christmas| NBC | Music

Special, Thursday, December 19, 10 p.m. ET: If you don’t like Barry Manilow, maybe you’re just afraid to admit you do. I get it—soft cheese ain’t for everyone—but you might like it if you give it a chance. Last year’s special was half Barry’s hits and half new arrangements of Christmas classics. We don’t know what the man(-ilow) has in store this year, but we’re totally hopin’ to see Santa and Barry strutting to specially arranged hit/holiday hybrids like “Ho-Ho-Hopacabana” or waxing wistful on, say, “Mandy (Cane).”

Beast Games | Amazon Prime Video | Reality competition

Series premiere, Thursday, December 19: A game show with 1,000 contestants? Yeah, that sounds like YouTube juggernaut MrBeast. A $5 million grand prize? That checks out, too. So does what contestants are subjected to win the money during this weekly reality competition: “… compete in nail-biting, physical, mental, and social challenges.” That sounds like great TV to us, but rumors of wild legal agreements and rug-pulling have plagued the production. If none of that uncharacteristic-for-MrBeast stuff bothers you, you can sign up to be notified when contestant applications reopen.

Ilana Glazer: Human Magic | Hulu | Stand-up comedy

Special, Friday, December 20: Ilana Glazer’s (Broad City) first stand-up special since 2020’s The Planet Is Burning deals with “life’s down and dirty truths, from painfully awkward high school years to navigating parenthood as a stoner mom.” It’s from that last experience that Glazer got the special’s title. Recounting the birth of their daughter, Glazer says, “And when she laid on my chest, I said those three magic words: Holy f**king shit! Human magic!”

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